Most likely the seller already had someone back out due to unsatisfactory
survey so he's trying to avoid that again. Personally not having a sea trial is not a deal breaker as of all the 5 boats I've owned only one turned out to be a dud. But I knew that going in as I needed her to be a "space saver" for a
mooring which needed some boat to be on it not to lose the
mooring permit and she was literally free and later became a bargaining chip for a needed
engine. The other 4 were perfectly
seaworthy and none had more issues than I knew of going in and the all were better sailors than I anticipated.
Why do people expect under $15-20K 40+ year old boats to be in Bristol A+ shape is beyond my understanding. Of course it'll have a number of issues and some may even be fatal if, and this "if" is important, if the buyer plans the boat to outlive him or her. Otherwise at say $10-12-15K
purchase price it would be a decent enough boat to enjoy for the next 2-3 years/seasons and then to sell if needed for say $5-7-10K. Making the cost of having a decent enough 37 footer less then $2-3K per year. I'm sure one will always be able to find a buyer or two for a 45 year old 37 footer at $5-7K. Just the
engine,
rigging, all systems,
teak, etc. on her are worth that much if parted out on ebay.
Now, if marina costs, haul outs, etc. are too much for the buyer to risk when
buying such a boat that's another issue and may be more indicative of the buyers' financial ability to be a boat owner then the risk of boat turning out to be in poor shape. After all if he buys the boat at say $12K and has to dispose of her 6 months later at $3K cost of disposal it is still much smaller loss than
buying a Bristol shape boat for $100K and having to sell her asap (for whatever reason) at $80K, less the broker's commission. This is the thinking and the approach IMO that should be applied in this situation.
Now, if one cannot stomach a $15K loss on a boat, any boat, one may not be ready to be a boat owner of any type/age/make/cost of a boat.